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English Lyrics of the XIIIth Century


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[section]
 1. 
1. Sunset on Calvary.
 2. 
2. Penitence for Wasted Life.
 3. 
3. ‘On God Ureisun of Ure Lefdi.’
 4. 
[4. Stabat iuxta Christi Crucem.]
 5. 
5. A Prisoner's Prayer.
 6. 
6. ‘Sumer Is Icumen In.’
 7. 
7. Now Comes the Blast of Winter.
 8. 
8. I Walk with Sorrow.
 9. 
9. Love's Madness.
 10A. 
10. Death's Wither-Clench. [A.]
 10B. 
[10. Death's Wither-Clench. B.]
 11A. 
11. Three Sorrowful Tidings. [A.]
 11B. 
[11. Three Sorrowful Tidings. B.]
 12A. 
12. Three Sorrowful Things. [A.]
 12B. 
[12. Three Sorrowful Things. B.]
 13. 
13. Memorare Novissima Tua.
 14. 
14. A Warning to Sir Eode.
 15. 
15. A Prayer to the Redeemer.
 16. 
16. Mater Salutaris.
 17A. 
17. Of One That Is So Fair and Bright. [A.]
 17B. 
[17. Of One That Is So Fair and Bright. B.]
 18. 
18. A Prayer of the Five Joys.
 19. 
19. The Lily with Five Leaves.
 20. 
20. Shroud and Grave.
 21A. 
21. Tell Me, Wight in the Broom. [A.]
 21B. 
[21. Tell Me, Wight in the Broom. B.]
 22. 
22. Gaude Virgo Mater Christi.
 23. 
23. The Ten Commandments.
 24. 
24. A Light Is Come to the World.
 25. 
25. The Bargain of Judas.
 26. 
26. The Journey of the Three Kings.
 27. 
27. Look on Me with Thy Sweet Eyes.
 28a. 
28a. Doomsday.
 28b. 
28b. Doomsday.
 29. 
29. The Latemest Day. [A.]
 29. 
[29. The Latemest Day. B.]
 30. 
30. When the Turf is Thy Tower.
 31. 
31. I Sing of One That is Matchless.
 32A. 
32. A Prayer of Penitence to Our Lady. [A.]
 32B. 
[32. A Prayer of Penitence to Our Lady. [B.]
 32C. 
[32. A Prayer of Penitence to Our Lady. [C.]
 33. 
33. Aspice Mitissime Conditor.
 34. 
34. Man's Leman on the Rood.
 35A. 
35. My Leman on the Rood. I. [A.]
 35B. 
[35. My Leman on the Rood. I. B.]
 36. 
36. My Leman on the Rood. II.
 37. 
37. My Leman on the Rood. III.
 38. 
38. Over the Bier of the Worldling.
 39. 
39. Will and Wit.
 40. 
40. Weal Is a Cursed Thing.
 41. 
41. The Five Blisses.
 42. 
42. An Antiphon of St. Thomas of Canterbury.
 43. 
43. Friar Thomas de Hales' Love Ron.
 44. 
44. Gabriel's Greeting to Our Lady.
 45. 
45. Jesus Sorrows for His Mother.
 46A. 
46. This World's Bliss Will Not Last. [A.]
 46B. 
[46. This World's Bliss Will Not Last. B.]
 47. 
47. Our Lady Sorrows for Her Son.
 48. 
48. ‘Vbi Sount Qui Ante Nos Fuerount.’
 49A. 
49. Dialogue between Our Lady and Jesus on the Cross. [A.]
 49B. 
[49. Dialogue between Our Lady and Jesus. B.]
 50. 
50. ‘Swete Ihesu King of Blisse.’
 51. 
51. ‘Le Regret de Maximian.’
 52. 
52. The Thrush and the Nightingale.
 53. 
53. What Love Is Like.
 54. 
54. A Springtide Song of the Redemption.
 55. 
55. A Prayer to the Mother of Mildness.
 56A. 
56. The Mind of the Passion. [A.]
 56B. 
[56. The Mind of the Passion. B.]
 57. 
57. Be Free with What Christ Sends.
 58. 
58. World's Bliss Have Good Day.
 59. 
59. A Hymn to the Heavenly Father.
 60. 
60. A Song to the Queen of Heaven.
 61. 
61. Mother Mild, Flower of All.
 62. 
62. Now Springs the Spray.
 63. 
63. A Spring Song of Love to Jesus.
 64. 
64. A Song of Sorrow for the Passion.
 65. 
65. An Orison of Penitence to Our Lady.
 66. 
66. I Will Become a Friar.
 67. 
67. A Bidding Prayer.
 68. 
68. Our Lady Help Us at Our Ending.
 69. 
69. In Sign of Love to Man.
 70A. 
70. Decem Precepta. [A.]
 70B. 
70. Decem Precepta. B.]
 71. 
71. Proprietates Mortis.
 72. 
72. A Song of Lewes.
 73. 
73. From Earth to Earth.
 74. 
74. On the Follies of Fashion.
 88. 
[88. A Prayer of Penitence to God Almighty. B.]

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2. Penitence for Wasted Life.

[_]

B.M. MS. Addit. 27909.

Leuedi sainte marie, moder and meide,
þu þisie me nuþe for ich eom eirede.
vnnut lif to longe ich lede;
hþanne ich me biþenche þel sore ich me a-drede.
Ich eom i-bunde sore mid þel feole seonne,
mid smale and mid grete, mid þel feole cunne.
dai and nicht ich fundie to þendende heonne—
þielde Godd an heuene to hþuechere þunne!
Slep me hað mi lif forstole richt half oðer more;
aþai! to late ich þas iþar, nu hit me reoþeð sore.
in slepe ne þende ich endie nocht þech ich slepe euremore;
hþao-se lifeð þat þakerur beo, þencþ of mine lore.
Al to longe slepð þe mann þat neure nele aþakie;
hþo-se understant þel his ende-dai, þel ȝeorne he mot spakie
to donde sunne aþei fram him & fele almesse makie,
ȝif him ne schal hþanne he forð-þant his brei-gurdel quakie.
2

Slep me hað mi lif forstole er ich me bisehe
þat ich þel aȝitte nu bi suhðe of min ehe;
mi brune her is hþit bicume, ich not for hþucche leihe,
& mi tohte rude iturned al in-to oðre dehe.
Ifurn ich habbe isunehed mid þorke & mid þorde,
hþile in mine bedde & hþile atte borde,
ofte þin idrunke & selde of þe forde;
muchel ich habbe ispened, to lite ich habbe an horde.
Hord þat ich telle is almesse-dede,
ȝieue þe hungrie mete & te nakede iþede,
rede þe redliese þat is þið-ute rede,
luuie god almichti & of him habbe drede.
Ifurn ich habbe isuneȝet mid þurken & midd muðe
& mid alle mine lime siððe ich sunehi cuðe,
& þel feole sunne ido þe me ofþincheð nuðe,
& sþo me hadde ifurn ido ȝif hit me crist i-ȝuðe.
Moder ful of milce, i bidde mi mod þende,
laete me steoþi mi flesc & mine fo schiende.
edmodnesse luuie to mine lif-es ende;
luue to gode & te mann ic bidde þat tu me sende.
Leuedi sainte marie, understond nu seonne mine;
ber min erende þel to deore sune þine,
hþas flech & blod ihalȝed is of bred, of þater, of þine,
þat us ischulde he eure fram alle helle-pine.
Inne mete & inne drinke ic habbe ibeo ouerdede,
& inne þel sittende schon in pruttere iþede;
hþanne ich ihurde of gode speke ne hedd ich hþat me sede—
hþan ich hier-of rekeni schal, þel sore me mei drede.
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